Ordnance device



W. B. D. GAY.

ORDNANCE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8. 1917.

Patented June 15, 1920.

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WILLIAM B. n any, or BBDOKLINE, MassAcnUsnTTs.

onnivsnon DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Application filed October 8, 1917. Serial N0.195,257.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WVIL IAM B. D. GAY, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in OrdnanceDevices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ordnance and more particularly to any aerialdevice adapted either to be dropped from aircraft or to be projectedthrough the air in other suitable manner. In military and navaloperations, both offensive and defensive, there are many situationswhere it is desirable to produce an explosion at a given point and atsubstantially the same time to produce another explosion at a pointsomewhat removed from the first point but in the same vicinity, asforexample in bombarding boats, navy yards, ammunition dumps, artillery.positions, trenches, etc., where there is a central jobject andscattered objects surrounding the central object, the destruction of thecentral object requiring a heavy explosion and the destruction of thescattered objects requiring a shower of shrapnel or liquid fire or acloud of gas. In bombarding an artillery position from aircraft, forexample, a heavy explosion immediately at the artillery piece isrequired to wreck the gun mechanism and in order to destroy the enemycompany operating at the position, at various distances from the gun, itis necessary to produce a shower of shrapnel or the like above the gun adistance depending upon the extensiveness of the position. The latter isparticularly necessary for the reason that the force of an explosion ator slightly above the surface of the earth is largely expendeddownwardly, resulting merely in wrecking the object struck or blowing acrater in the ground. In bombing a boat from aircraft it is desirable toproduce an explosion at or in the boat to disable and sink it and at thesame time-to bring down a shower of shrapnel or the like to destroy theenemy onthe deck of the boat.

In realization of the above-mentioned requirements the present inventionhas for its principal object the production of a plurality of explosionsat spaced points in the same vicinity at substantially the same time.Corrolarial objects of the inventions will appear from the followingdescription and V the accompanying drawing which represents PatentedJune 15, 1920..

artillery piece, or the like, and the trailing bomb being constructed toproduce a shower of shrapnel or liquid fire or a cloud of gas or thelike. My preferred method of cansing one bomb to travel ahead of theother consists inmaking the specific gravity of the forward bomb greaterthan that of the trailing bomb although air resistance devices or othersteering means may be employed. The connection between the bombs/ispreferably rigid and in the preferred embodiment illustrated in thedrawings the connection comprises a tube 3.

Inasmuch as the principal desideratum of the present invention is toexplode the bombs when the forward bomb hits its mark, I providedetonating means actuated by the forward bomb contacting with an object.

Any means actuated by the shock of a col lision may be employed fordetonating the respective bombs but I prefer to employ means such asillustrated whereby a contact detonator in the forward bomb actuates adetonator in the trailing bomb. The illustrated means for this purposecomprises a firing pin 4 slidingly mounted in an opening 1n the forwardend of the forward bomb, a detonating charge 5 behind the pin 4, acharge of high-explosive 6 around the detonating charge 5, a firingshaft '7 slidingly mounted in the connecting tube 3, a detonating charge8 mounted in an opening in bomb 2 at the end of tube 3, and a charge ofhigh-explosive around the detonating charge 8. The material 10 and 11within the bombs may comprise any suitable composition or mixture such ashrapnel, gas or li uid fire.

*rom the above description the operation of my improved device will beapparent. The uses to which the device may be put are innumerable andthe above mentioned uses are merely illustrative. For example, thedevice may be employed effectually to bomb troops marching along ahighway or across a bridge, the forward bomb serving to blow a crater inthe highway so as to render the road impassable, or to destroy thebridge,

and the trailing bomb serving to decimate the troops.

I claim:

1. An ordnance device comprising a plurality of spaced bombs and meansincluding a rod extending between the bombs for exploding one bomb whenthe other bomb explodes.

2. An ordnance device comprising a plurality of spaced bombs, a tubeoining the bombs together and means including a rod reoiprocatablymounted inthe tube for ex ploding the bombs simultaneously.

3. An ordnance device comprising an elongate tube, a bomb at each end ofthe tube, the device being so shaped and weighted that in falling onebomb will travel ahead of the other, a detonator in each bomb, and afiring shaft extending through said tube into cooperative relationshipwith the detonators, whereby the forward bomb explodes when it strikesthe earth and the other bomb explodes above the earth at a distancedetermined by the length of said tube.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this 5th day of October, 1917.

WILLIAM B. D. GAY.

